Paul Edgar Appointed Clements Center Executive Director

President Jim Davis appointed Dr. Paul Edgar as the Executive Director of the William P. Clements, Jr. Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin, effective May 15, 2026.

Dr. Edgar brings to the role more than two decades of military service, nearly a decade of administration and teaching at the University of Texas, and a record of scholarship in the languages and history of the Ancient Near East. Before entering academia, he served more than 22 years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, with assignments in conventional, airborne, and special operations units, and several deployments to the Middle East, including Iraq and Afghanistan. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures from The University of Texas at Austin and is a scholar of several ancient languages. He is currently completing an international diplomatic history of the Late Bronze Age.

Edgar‘s academic career has been profoundly shaped by the Clements Center. He was one of the Center’s earliest graduate fellows and, subsequently, had the good fortune to serve as its Associate Director. Additionally, Edgar was a predoctoral and postdoctoral fellow in the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Engaged Scholar Program. While serving in the Army, he was an Olmsted Foundation Scholar and graduate student at Tel Aviv University, where he studied Modern Israeli Hebrew, Classical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Jewish Literature from the Iron Age through the Crusades. He earned his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from St. Mary’s University.

“I’m grateful to President Davis, Chairman George Seay, and our Board of Advisors for granting me this opportunity,” Edgar said. “I’m also thankful for the support and coaching of my predecessors, Vice Admiral (Ret.) Joseph Maguire and Provost William Inboden. The Clements Center and Texas have been very good to me, and I hope that I can be equally helpful and generous to every undergraduate, master’s, and PhD student who walks through our doors.”

At UT Austin, Edgar has taught Classical Hebrew, the History of Jerusalem, and the History of Strategy. He also holds an appointment as a Professor of Practice.